A game of chest
by BlueBird productions
Summary: this takes place after Ren Gyokuen became emperor and before the war with Magnostadt. Ren Kouen retreats to his room to wait for a special visitor, a figure of kouen's affections and a friend with the strangest kind of magic. how did this friendship came to be and why did Kouen even agree to be friends with this woman? it all started with a game of chest. [Ren Kouen X Oc] [oneshot]


The past mouths had been busy for Kouen, first he needed to deal with the incident with balbadd then he dealt with his father's death and to top it all off that witch Gyokuen had become empress. The only fun part of all this is there's rumours of a war brewing for magnostadt, kouen did enjoy a good war after all.

After all this Kouen needed some time to himself, luckily, he had a visit planed so he slipped away back to his corridors, he has been looking forward to this visit for awhile however he needed to be secretive about this, sometimes it was difficult to go to his room alone but at this time it was easy since everybody in palace is focus on the feast tonight in Gyokuen's honour.

Kouen turned to his household vessels, "I'm retreating to my room for the afternoon, be sure to guard my wing. no one comes in under any conditions, and if it's urgent...please knock first." Kouen command

"yes, prince kouen!" all four of his vessels say at the same time. They knew this command well, as they were the only ones who knew Kouen was expecting to see. though two of four didn't like who was coming over.

* * *

Once in his room he took a deep breath, he changed out of his equipment and into a normal white and red men's kimono. The sky was blue for once out of this week, might as well make the best of it, Kouen opened the window. The air that blew was fresh as a gentle breeze blew against his face just then the sun was blocked from his face. Kouen became instantly annoyed by the blocking of the sun as he opened his eyes.

"Hi, Kouen!" exclaimed a girl looking back at him. Kouen's room was two stories up yet this girl was looking straight into his blazing golden eyes, the girl was also upside down and floating in midair but ,curious, as she held no wand like a magician or a magi like Judar.

Kouen stared back at her for a moment before dragging her into his room hastily. " you keep saying you can't be seen!" he scolded her as Kouen dropped her onto the floor "yet you float just outside my room where eyes can see you?"

For Kouen, the woman was rather cute in a lot of ways, her orange brown hair curled at the ends and was up to her shoulders, she wore a light pink silk coat with red trimming, and a long purple skirt. under the coat was a bright pink shirt to keep her body warm. The odd thing about the woman was the fact she had purple streaks in her hair and her eyes were complete off, her right iris was green while the left one was blue and the pupils her spirals. When the lady stood by kouen the two made fun looking pair. The girl grumbled as she fixed herself "well yea, but there was no one outside, say for your vessels besides you know I can just turn invisible." she argued as she floated in midair.

"Nutmeg, right now it is a very dangerous time for you to play risky now." Kouen warned, his visitors became confused. Nutmeg, looked at kouen." why? what's going on?"

Kouen took a sigh" Gyokuen is now empress."

This was a surprise to Nutmeg, she returned to floor. "your step-mom is the boss now? I thought you were suppose to be king after your dad but then again I know how you don't want to be emperor." Nutmeg said the last was said in a low tone but Kouen knew what she said

"that's not the point, I have no a way to make sure you stay out of harms way if your ever discovered. if Gyokuen ever got a hold of you..I can say fair well to the friend I once knew." Kouen told her.

"Awe, Kouen." Nutmeg smiled a small blush appeared on her face. "well come on friend, I came here for a reason!" she said excitedly as a chest board and pieces poofed into the room. without saying any more Kouen sat on the side with black coloured pieces and Nutmeg sat on the white coloured side. Kouen and Nutmeg began to play their game of chest During the middle of the game Kouen happened to look up and see Nutmeg looking at him, smiling.

"what is it?" he asked.

Nutmeg giggled, "well it's just I noticed your room is cleaned, your hair is fixed and washed, you got snacks already in here. and you tell me your worried about me. your attitude towards me certainly changed over the past 6 years." Nutmeg said with sass

Kouen sighed with slight amusement, "I suppose you had more of an impact on me then I ever expected you too."

"I'm pretty sure it's called being good friends!" she joked "Remember the first chest we played? it was when we met, you said I'd never be as important to you than the empire." nutmeg began to remember their first encounter as they continued to play.

* * *

Two years ago when there was still just 3 known magis in the world, and kouen's father was still alive. there was tales going around about something dangerous was lurking in the woods at the foot of the mountains outside the kou empire's city. First it was just rumours to be ignored but soon it became fact that something lurked in those cursed woods.

Kouha was sent by Kouen to take care of it first but he couldn't find anything, next kougyoku was sent and this time she came back with evidence; she was covered in egg yoks which she claimed the eggs flew at her soon after she seen a figure in the trees. kougyoku explained she couldn't land a hit on whatever it was and disappeared as soon as it appeared. Anyone who was sent to face what it was came back with ether messy hair,messing clothes or cuts and bruises. Kouen began to find it ridiculous and decided he'd face whatever was in the woods and drive it is out to face punishment.

Kouen made the trip on his own despite the protest of his household vessels and koumei but he just recently got his three vessels and was confidant. Kouen grabbed his gear and Dijin equipment and set off. The woods started off light as walked in but soon got very narrow, he can see why the other had a hard time with this..maybe he should have let back up come along.

Luckily Kouen was smart enough to mark the trees along his way. Kouen must have walk some distance when he came upon an opening in the trees when an egg came from the trees, The egg hit him square in the chest making a stain on his clothes. Kouen was caught off guard to say the least, he wiped as much as the egg off, a giggle can be heard all around him.

"ha ha ha, that was funny! your face could use some work though." the voice said. Kouen noted that the voice he heard sounded female. "your the one making trouble? if so, show yourself and make this easier." Kouen called out as he drew his sword.

"It's no fun to reveal myself but ,heck, your a handsome one." The voice said cheekily, Kouen eyebrows raised in curiously of what happened next. A young women suddenly appeared out of no where and she was float in air. this explains why his siblings couldn't see anything.

what was curious is that she clearly was using magic but he saw no wand. Kouen cleared his distraction he was there to take care of this annoyance so he had to ignore this discovery and get down to business. he turned into his main Dijin equip form, ready to battle.

"so your a Dijin user like some of those others, what can you do with your equip?" the woman asked. Kouen didn't say anything as he sent a flame blade at her to test her abilities. the woman simply snapped her fingers and pointed at the incoming flames, a burst of water appeared ripping through the flames and went straight for Kouen. Kouen easily dodged the water but being on ground was working in the woman's favour so he'll bring the battle to her level. Kouen levitated so he was at her height.

Kouen than commanding fire to fly upwards where the woman was, as Kouen expected the woman swiftly floated to right to try and get out of the way, this was his chance! Kouen flew at the woman sword in hand, the woman gasped as he came close. in a split second the woman pointed down, Kouen was just seconds to strike when a waterfall landed on them both bringing them to the ground. when the water disappeared Kouen was landing on his back,dumbfounded, as the woman was also drenched.

"ah, refreshing." the woman smiled but she remembered Kouen and floated in the air to fix herself quickly to see what he was doing and to her surprise Kouen changed out of his dijin equip. "how?" was all he said.

the woman blinked "how?"

"I know how magic works, how magicians use magic but you have know wand what so ever and you don't have a metal vessel! some things you did I know magicians aren't able to do, I want to know how YOU were able to do all that with wand!" Kouen got close to her with an expression that would scare anyone, it, of course scared the woman.

"Give a lady her space, mister!" woman exclaimed "you come here, attack me, freak me out and now you expect me to spill to you about my secrets, just like that!?"

"I do, I am Kouen, 1st prince of Kou empire! and I command you" Kouen made his point

the woman dropped her face and took step on the ground, "wait, your a prince?"

Kouen was silent for a moment, "yes, ain't my clothes obvious?"

the woman shrugged, "I just thought you wore a cape because you think it looks cool." she said aloud, Kouen just gave a dumbfound look. "where are my manners your Majesty, my name is Nutmeg." Nutmeg bowed, Kouen couldn't help but give a silent chuckle, the name was so odd.

"Anyways, I may not give a darn of your title but you did give me some entertainment. so I'll cut you a deal." Nutmeg told kouen, who became intrigued.

"you see, when I'm not aloud to share secrets I do a loop around. you know how to play chest?" she asked to which kouen gave a slight nod, he remember playing a game with Muu once. "how this will works is that as we play one round of chest and I'll answer one question when you take one of my pieces. and to top of our little game is a bet. If i win I'll leave this area no force needed, and if I win you leave me alone." Nutmeg bargained, she was expecting a resistance but to her surprise Kouen agreed but Nutmeg grew bright with glee,

"great!" Nutmeg summoned a chest board with the pieces in place, ready to play. soon the match began, first with the pawns were moved and not surprising it wasn't long before Kouen took the first pawn once he did, the first question he had can be said and answered. "what is that type of magic you use?" Kouen asked

Nutmeg moved her third pawn, "it's called Magoi poisoning."

Kouen stopped his move at the sound of that word, "Magoi poisoning? wha-" before he could ask Nutmeg looked him to silence him. right, the rules, welp now he really is gonna get into this game, he wants answers.

Magoi poisoning, kouen couldn't remember a book with that subject but he remembered it being mention only once in a document. Trying to pay attention to Nutmeg's moves Kouen was impress when she took three of his pawns and one bishop however he took the chance to take her knight.

"what is Magoi poisoning?" Kouen asked as he looked at Nutmeg ,with a breath, she looked up at kouen. "Magoi poisoning only effects infants. you know Rukh and how it creates Magoi? Magoi poisoning happens when Rukh gets trapped in a baby for a time with the Rukh inside the body it pulls large Magoi in victim. If the inflicted baby doesn't die of fever, blood loss, or deformity, the Magoi gets be solidified and the victim can be use magic without a wand, able to create all kinds of spells." Nutmeg explained

Kouen took in that information but there was more to be asked, luckily he took one Nutmeg's towers right away. "using magic without wands seems like a dream come for some magicians, but why aren't there any more like you around in the world?"

with a sigh Nutmeg continued, "for one thing it hardly happens, and when it does it's almost always fatal. there are hardly any survivors of magoi poisoning, those who are inflicted sadly die off because no one knows what to do." Nutmeg said silently

"expect you. you survived your infliction." Kouen brought together the information. that truly was a grim thing to hear, he didn't notice how Nutmeg took the last of his pawns. but he still needed more answers. so he planed carefully and took nutmeg's last knight. "how did you survive your ordeal?"

Nutmeg shrugged "sheer luck mostly, my parents were healers." she smiled and looked up at Kouen, "you know your really good." she told him, This cause Kouen to smirk a bit, "your not bad yourself. seems I found a worthy foe on the board." Kouen said as he managed to take Nuttmeg's second and last pawn with his sole knight in a straight L line.

"I suppose that counts as two questions." with a nod from Nutmeg kouen continued. "Are there any downfalls with your condition and why haven't I heard of the poisoning in books or from doctors?" Kouen asked

Nutmeg shuffled to get more comfortable, " they're sure are downsides to Magoi poisoning. first it changes the body psychically, it might not be as heavy as a house hold vessels but you can see my eyes are...different. I had normal brown eyes before I developed Magoi poisoning lastly if I use to much of my magic; blood comes streaming from my ears, eyes, mouth and nose. as for why you don't hear or read anything from the poisoning is because it hardly even appears. the last known sighting of magoi poison was...me. I meet only two others with magoi poisoning and that's about it. it was agreed by ancient old men that since magoi poison hardly happens there's no point in documenting it. " she finished. Kouen crossed his arms and closed his eyes, he seemed to be thinking of something before opening them again. "thank you for sharing. I want to change our deal."

Nutmeg was curious about this sudden change, "uh ok."

"If I win this match..you will not leave, instead you will join the kou empire." Kouen finished with nutmeg absolutely shocked kouen continued, "you'd make an excellent solider in our ranks, plus it would throw our enemies off since no one will know about your condition."

Nutmeg thought about it she made the agreement not to tell any one or kindoms with the other people with Magoi poisoning, what she didn't tell Kouen their were more Magoi poisoned people out there then she made it sound like but if she did use her magic for the kou empire and other countries were able to find out about Magoi poison there's no telling what the other kingdoms would do to get their hands on someone who has Magoi poisoning however she was really starting to like Kouen, his aura was calm despite his tough nature.

At last Nutmeg knew what she wanted, "Alright, if you are changing your bet I will too. if I lose I'll join the kou empire but If I win, you become my new friend." Nutmeg could see no expressions from him for a while until he spoke out a "very well." He grew a scary grin.

The two continued their game, it was in complete silence from the chatting before but nutmeg guessed it was from the bet they made. Kouen didn't show it but he was starting to really respect Nutmeg for her cunning strategies, She has very smart but he wasn't fond of her sassy cheery nature just yet, her smile was cute though. soon the board was nearly empty it was just the two kings left on the board.

"Always comes down to two kings, huh?" Nutmeg chuckled nervously to which Kouen only mumbled, he was too busy trying to figure out what move to make. kouen was so sure of his last move that he didn't see the opening Nutmeg had and she kinged him.

"checkmate." she teased. Kouen didn't move, nutmeg watched him, making sure he didn't just die from a heart failure. a breath escaped from kouen, "I guess this makes us..friends, I suppose.." he growled calmly under his breath, accepting his defeat. Nutmeg began to laugh at Kouen's deadpanned face after the chest pieces poofed away. kouen was getting ready to leave.

"I'll come visit you kouen." Nutmeg said happily

Kouen gave her a look, "Don't know how you'll be able to do so since you don't like eyes gazing on you."

"I have invisibility remember?" she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Remember this, Nutmeg. I'll get you to use your power for the empire someday. I hardly care about why you don't want to but it doesn't matter as you will never be as important to me than the empire." Kouen said coldly as he left when he was gone Nutmeg finished taking in all what had happened just know, "he'll get use to me someday..hopefully" Nutmeg said bluntly.

it was indeed a rocky friendship. at first Kouen would sometimes ignore Nutmeg when she arrived at his room and she 'd pester him to the point of annoyance. there were moments where he yelled at her to knock it off and how annoying she was. Nutmeg also had trouble with kouen pestering her to get involved with the wars the kou empire got into, it took a long time to have Kouen understand why it was best she remain secret for now. some time after the two warmed up to each other becoming true friends and no sooner after did romantic feelings began to brew between them. everything leading the two up to the present.

* * *

"ugh!" Nutmeg squeaked as kouen took her king

"Checkmate." kouen smirked. "this makes us tied."

"hmph, we're playing something else next time.." she pouted. Kouen gave a snarky look at her "you should accept your defeats with more dignity then that, nutty." he teased this made Nutmeg mad enough to jump at kouen pinning him to the floor underneath her. "I told you don't call me nutty!" she sneered.

Kouen smiled, "I thought you'd know my answer to that the last time you told me, nutty." with a shift motion Kouen flipped them over so Nutmeg was under him. Nutmeg's face heated up with the new position before anything else was said though a knock could be heard from kouen's door.

"what is it?" kouen called out to whoever was outside his door, he was clearly annoyed.

"Kouen, you are requested in the throne room, this is indeed urgent, the buffet has been put on hold and it requires all bodies present." replied the messenger from the other side. Kouen didn't have time to reply before Nutmeg quietly got up, poofed the chest board away.

Nutmeg turned to kouen, "what this is about kouen, please be careful." she told him, "not just with whatever this is but what will come after. i know you too well." with that, Nutmeg opened a portal and entered it back to her current hide away.

kouen gave a heavy sigh, it really was getting harder for him to see her leave. kouen wanted her to stay, it wasn't for the empire anymore Kouen wanted Nutmeg to stay...for him however it's not safe for her to stay with him at present so he'll wait until it is safe and when it is, that's when he'll ask her to be his forever.


End file.
